{"id":387479,"date":"2026-04-19T16:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387479\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:39:18","slug":"android-13-google-has-discontinued-support-for-operating-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/387479\/","title":{"rendered":"Android 13: Google has discontinued support for operating system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the beginning of March 2026, and thus about three and a half years after the introduction of the Android version <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Pixels-zuerst-Android-13-ist-fertig-7221039.html?from-en=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in August 2022 \u2013 initially for Pixel devices \u2013<\/a>, Google has stopped the development and distribution of security patches. However, the operating system is still widely used; users of a device with the outdated OS should generally look for a new device.<\/p>\n<p>No more security patches<\/p>\n<p>Just under a year after Google ended the distribution of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Aus-fuer-Android-12-und-12L-Google-beendet-Support-fuer-Millionen-Geraete-10352204.html?from-en=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">security patches for Android 12 and 12L<\/a>, the next Android version is now nearing its end. This means that smartphones and tablets for which Android 13 was the last update will no longer receive security updates for the core operating system. Already in the <a href=\"https:\/\/source.android.com\/docs\/security\/bulletin\/2026\/2026-03-01?hl=de\" rel=\"external noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">security bulletin from March 2026<\/a>, there was no mention of Android 13. And since Google has only been delivering security patches quarterly since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Schlecht-fuer-Custom-ROMs-Google-aendert-Android-Sicherheitspatch-Strategie-10645581.html?from-en=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 2025<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Patchday-Attacken-auf-Geraete-mit-Android-13-14-15-und-16-beobachtet-11099576.html?from-en=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">patch from December 2025<\/a> might have already been the very last for the OS version. Any critical security vulnerabilities in the core of the operating system will thus remain. At least Google apps and services, as well as certain OS components that are part of Project Mainline, are updated via Google Play services.<\/p>\n<p>Google has largely transferred the responsibility for security to the device manufacturers. Users can also optionally switch to alternative Android versions such as LineageOS or \/e\/OS, which, however, rely on security patches from Google from the AOSP, meaning that the Android forks are also incompletely secured.<\/p>\n<p>Over 400 million devices<\/p>\n<p>If you believe the figures on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Neue-Zahlen-zur-Versionsverteilung-Android-16-mit-7-5-Prozent-Marktanteil-11161849.html?from-en=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google&#8217;s Android version distribution from December 2025<\/a>, Android 13 still has a market share of 13.9 percent. While that may not sound like much, considering that over three billion Android devices are in circulation, beyond 417 million are still running on the outdated OS version. In Germany, we can only refer to the approximate values <a href=\"https:\/\/gs.statcounter.com\/android-version-market-share\/all\/germany\" rel=\"external noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">from Statcounter<\/a>, according to which 11.5 percent of devices in this country are still based on Android 13.<\/p>\n<p>        Read alsoMehr anzeigenWeniger anzeigen<\/p>\n<p>For owners of a smartphone or tablet that is still running Android 13, it would now be time, given the end of support for the operating system, to look for a device that is regularly provided with system-relevant security patches. The update to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/thema\/Android-17\" rel=\"external noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Android 17<\/a> is currently nearing completion and is expected in June 2026.<\/p>\n<p>(<a class=\"redakteurskuerzel__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/en\/news\/mailto:afl@heise.de\" title=\"Andreas Floemer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">afl<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p class=\"a-u-mb-1\">\n      Don&#8217;t miss any news \u2013 follow us on<br \/>\n      <a class=\"a-u-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/heiseonlineEnglish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>,<br \/>\n      <a class=\"a-u-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/104691972\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn<\/a> or<br \/>\n      <a class=\"a-u-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/social.heise.de\/@heiseonlineenglish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mastodon<\/a>.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"a-u-mb-0\">\n      This article was originally published in<\/p>\n<p>        <a class=\"a-u-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Android-13-Google-hat-Support-fuer-Betriebssystem-eingestellt-11262547.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">German<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>      It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n      Dieser Link ist leider nicht mehr g\u00fcltig.\n    <\/p>\n<p>Links zu verschenkten Artikeln werden ung\u00fcltig,<br \/>\n      wenn diese \u00e4lter als 7\u00a0Tage sind oder zu oft aufgerufen wurden.\n    <\/p>\n<p>Sie ben\u00f6tigen ein heise+ Paket, um diesen Artikel zu lesen. Jetzt eine Woche unverbindlich testen \u2013 ohne Verpflichtung!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the beginning of March 2026, and thus about three and a half years after the introduction of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[771,367,342,65985,111,139,69,200713,20406,145,7245],"class_list":{"0":"post-387479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-android","9":"tag-google","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-mobiles","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-sicherheitslucken","16":"tag-tablets","17":"tag-technology","18":"tag-updates"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}